Celestial Ties
by Starry077
Summary: Lucy finally collected the last of the Zodiac Keys, Capricorn, but what is happening now? She's been brought into the spirit world and everyone there seems to be calling her Princess! LokiXLucy
1. Capricorn: The Last Zodiac Key

**Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Fairy Tail :'(**

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**Celestial Ties**

**Chapter 1: Capricorn; the last key**

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Lucy stared down at the key in her hand in amazement as the rest of her group celebrated their victory on the mission they just completed. She ignored them all and just kept tracing the golden key over and over with her finger, still not believing the truth that sat before her.

"Luuucy! Luuuuucy!"

"Huh?" She responded to Natsu, whose face was now lit up since she had finally responded. She wondered how long he had been trying to get her attention and noticed that her other team mates were looking at her with inquisition as well.

"What new spirit did you get?" He replied with glistening eyes, "Is it a dragon! Can I fight it?"

It was clear that Natsu didn't know much about stellar spirits, and wouldn't ever bother to learn.

"Natsu," Ezra spoke up, lecturing Natsu, "That key is golden which means it's a zodiac key. There are no dragons in the zodiac."

"Hey, how many of those do you have now, Lucy?" Gray inquired.

"Tw-twelve…," she stuttered with udder disbelief.

"Twelve?" Ezra gasped as Gray and Natsu just looked at her in confusion.

"Make a contract, Lucy!" Natsu goaded her on, still not catching the fact that this was the twelve, and final of the very rare golden zodiac spirit keys that one could ever possess.

Lucy finally snapped back to reality and a big smile showed on her face, luckily they were by a lake and so she walked into the lake before activating the key.

"Gate of the Capricornus. The mighty Sea-Goat. I, Lucy Heartfilia, stellar spirit mage of fairy Tail, call to thee to cross over!"

As soon as the incantation was finished, the sea-goat Capricorn appeared in all its half fish-half goat glory.

"Lucy Heartfilia," Capricorn's authoritative voice rang out, "Congratulations, princess. You can finally return home."

'Geez, what's with all these spirits calling me princess?' She thought to herself, before the last thing that Capricorn said was comprehended.

"What? Home?" She looked around to see that her friends were also confused at Capricorns words.

"You mean like back to Fairy Tail, right Mr. Fish-goat," Natsu toothily smiled at the silly spirit as Happy sat on his shoulder and tilted his head while drooling over the fact that Capricorn was half fish.

"No, I mean returning to your rightful world, Princess Lucy."

Before anyone could fathom what that would even mean, there was suddenly a bright light as the gate to the spirit world opened. Capricorn quickly picked Lucy up and disappeared into the gate as it closed behind them.

"Hey!" Natsu was the first one to speak up after the weird incident, "Where did that half fish half goat thing take Lucy?"

Fire erupted from his mouth and hands as he tried to open the gate, which was nothing but thin air by now, and save his best friend from the weird creature that stole her.

Gray was the second to snap out of it and started pounding the thin air with his ice hammer.

"Stop." This one word from Ezra was enough to make them both stop their actions and look at her with wide eyes.

"We need to think this through, but I'm pretty sure that Lucy is now in the Spirit World. To rescue her, we're going to need to go back and talk to the master."

After a fight with Natsu and Gray about gathering information, they finally agreed to do it Ezra's way, after they both had plenty of bruises and were dubbed unable to fight at least.

Meanwhile Lucy had indeed been transported to the Spirit World. In fact, she was now standing right in front of the grand palace that the Spirit King took residence in, which she could only guess by the lifelike statue of him in the front.

"Princess Lucy," Capricorn held out an arm towards the palace in front of her, "Welcome home."

Lucy took one look at the palace, figuring out for herself what it meant that she was home and fainted right in the middle of the Spirit King's statue.

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**AN: Thanks for reading everyone. I won't be updating too often as I work 9 hour days and only get a chance, if any, on the weekends. Therefore, I'm sorry in advance if I make you wait too long for an update =O Anyway, please leave me reviews as I still don't know whether this fanfic will have a major pairing of Loki X Lucy or Natsu X Lucy. Cast your votes and have a good day :)**


	2. Spirit World

**Disclaimer: If I owned Fairy Tail, I wouldn't be writing a fan fiction on this site =P**

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**Celestial Ties**

**Chapter 2: Spirit World**

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Lucy slowly opened her eyes to find that she was lying in a bed; a really comfy bed in fact.

She rolled around for a bit and enjoyed the bed until something alarming popped into her head.

"Where am I?" She spoke her thought aloud.

"You are in the great castle of spirit. I was summoned to take you to your room when you fainted, Princess," a familiar voice rang through the room.

Lucy looked towards the familiar voice to find none other than her spirit/friend Virgo in her usual maid outfit.

"I'm glad to see that you're awake," Virgo continued in her stoic voice, "The king has instructed you to wear this and meet him for dinner in 30 minutes."

Lucy eyed the extravagant dress Virgo was holding wearily. It was a long dress with a tight bodice and she had had enough of those kind of dresses in her life.

"I think I'll pick out something else to wear," she told Virgo, who had no right to force the dress she held on her, apparently, since she made no move to do so.

"You can go now, Virgo," Lucy said politely, hoping that the zodiac spirit would leave her alone for a bit.

"I will come to collect you in 30 minutes princess," Virgo spoke before disappearing into the ground, creating a hole in the floor.

'You could at least exit through the door,' Lucy thought with a sweat drop.

After 15 minutes of siphoning through all the drawers and closets that were in the room, Lucy finally had found something more of her style to wear. It was a black and silver shorter style dress, kind of like the clothes that Virgo always brought to her from the spirit world when she needed some clothes to wear.

With that out of the way, Lucy began to look around the room, finding doors to more and more hidden rooms with different necessities. Such as the bathroom, which was mostly filled with what could have been a swimming pool, the bathing tub was that big. It was like having her own hot spring in the next room.

Somehow, she found a room with two double doors that she could only guess led to a balcony.

"Time to get a good look at this place."

Upon opening the double doors, Lucy's breath was taken in awe.

The sky, which was usually blue on earth, was a dark purple color, but that wasn't the most amazing thing. The sky held stars brighter than the darkest night on earth, but they weren't just randomly placed, the stars formed the 12 zodiac constellations. In the distance, she could see what looked like mansions or miniature castles, none as grand as the one she was in of course, but they all had their style.

'They must form a full circle around this castle,' Lucy concluded, 'and there must be 12 of them, one for each zodiac spirit.'

The last thought she had was from the fact that each zodiac constellation stood over one of the mansions.

Looking closer to the castle now, she saw there was a city in-between the mansions and the castle.

'That must be where all the silver key spirits live.'

"Princess, it is time," Virgo appeared out of nowhere and almost gave Lucy a heart attack.

Once her heart was under control again, Lucy stood up straight and fixed herself with a serious face.

"Alright, Virgo, take me to the King."

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**AN: Hey everyone, sorry this chapter was so short, but I just wanted you to understand how the spirit world is set up in my story. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**Thank you for all your wonderful reviews =D I'll leave the polls open for which pairing to go with for a couple more chapters, so cast your vote soon if you haven't yet.**

**Hoping to get the next chapter out in a couple days, but we'll see. =P Have a great day!**


	3. Confusion

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail :'(**

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**Celestial Ties**

**Chapter 3: Confusion**

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"Lucy," a deep voice resounded through the large dining room as Lucy walked through the doors after Virgo.

She was led to her seat at the other end of the table, and it was a long table. Then Virgo bowed before disappearing through the door.

'Looks like she knows how to exit when she's around the Spirit King,' she thought to herself before realizing that the king hadn't called her "Old friend", but had actually called her by her name.

The spirit King was now just looking at her, expecting her to talk, she guessed.

"Hello, your majesty," she said nervously, her fingers fidgeting and hoping that that last part was what she was supposed to call him.

Suddenly the king started to laugh. The laugh was so whole hearted and joyous that it made Lucy smile. It was as if she'd heard that laugh, so long ago when she was a kid. Perhaps in a dream of hers, she didn't know.

"There is no need to add on honorifics, my child," he was still smiling, as if he knew something she didn't.

"Why not?" She asked suspiciously, determined to find out what he was keeping from her, "How else would I address you?"

He started laughing again and when he looked back at her, she thought she saw something very odd; Love.

'Ugh, I really hope this old king doesn't propose to me.' The thought sickened her, although she hadn't felt like it was that type of love that was reflected in his eyes.

"How about addressing me as dad."

"D-Dad?" Lucy's eyes went wide as the man in front of her gave her a blinding smile.

"Guess I have some explaining to do," Lucy's dad, AKA the Spirit King, provided as Lucy nodded vigorously, surprised she hadn't fainted yet.

"Later," He waved his huge hand, "First, we feast!"

Suddenly, all the zodiac spirits were sitting at the table and the table itself was filled with delicious looking foods of all types and kinds.

Lucy didn't even waste time to say hello to her friends before digging in, it had been at least 12 hours since she had eaten last.

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"Old man! It's so horrible! Lucy's gone!"

Natsu came running in like a cartoon, tears streaming from his face and snot dripping from his nose, while yelling the said line above over and over.

"QUIET!" The master of Fairy Tail yelled so loud that Natsu stopped in his tracks and froze.

"Alright," Makarov started, "Now what has happened to Lucy?"

Natsu told the whole story to Makarov before the others finally came walking in. Apparently Natsu had used Happy to fly ahead of them.

"Master!" Ezra began before getting waved off by Makarov.

"Yes, I know. Natsu has told me everything."

"Well then, what should we do?" Gray questioned.

"For starters," Makarov narrowed his eyes at Gray, "Try putting on some clothes."

Gray looked down and turned red, before having a fit and finally reappearing with clothes on again.

"Anyway," Makarov folded his arms and legs, in his usual sitting pose, "Natsu has asked me already about how to get to the Spirit World."

"I would say that is impossible for humans like you to do. You should just wait for Lucy to return, if she's still alive somehow."

"What do you mean by still alive, Master?" Ezra asked concern shown on her face for Lucy's well-being.

"Well, like the Spirits from the Spirit World, that can't stay on earth for too long without suffering, humans are exactly opposite of that." He explained wisely.

"So, Lucy is probably suffering since she was human," Gray concluded for the group.

"The Spirit World is much harder for a human to survive in, than the human world is for a Spirit to survive in," Makarov explained, "Use Loki as an example. He stayed here for a full 3 years before almost dying."

"If it's like that, then we had better find a way in and get Lucy out fast," Ezra stated calmly.

"The problem with that is it's never been done before."

"I did it once," Natsu supplied to Makarov, who seemed impressed with the information.

"That changes things. If Natsu can do it, then maybe the rest of you can."

The old Fairy Tail Master began to draw out a map that would take them to a very powerful Spirit Mage who lived by herself in the woods.

"Go here and you should find a very old friend of mine, Farla Fritch," Makarov explained as he gave the map to Ezra, no doubt the only one that could be able to use it right.

"Thank you master," Ezra took the map and smiled, before grabbing Gray and Natsu and running out the door.

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**AN: Alright so the votes are in and a winner has been chosen! The only thing is you guys won't get to know until the end….Muahaha!**

**Anyway, evilness aside, is anyone going to an anime convention this summer? I'll be attending Anime Iowa and it'll be my first time! Can't wait cause I'm thinking of cosplaying Lucy =D**

**Well, you know the drill, please review or let me know what convention you're excited for, or if you think I'm a geek for going to one. I don't care as long as I get to hear from my wonderful readers!**


	4. Celestial Ties

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. If I did, there would be more LucyXLoki and NatsuXLucy moments. Can't decide which couple I like best although I tested it out with the sims 3 and Lucy and Loki ended up getting married =P**

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**Celestial Ties**

**Chapter 4: Celestial Ties**

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Lucy had just finished eating when a bright flash of light erupted.

She was now standing next to the Spirit King on a stage with two thrones.

"Old friends," the spirit King acknowledged, "This is my daughter, Lucy, finally returning to take her rightful place as Princess of this Spirit World."

The explosion of applause was deafening and Lucy looked warily at the large bull zodiac who had yelled out "Nice Body!".

Lucy saw that all of her spirits, even the silver keyed ones, and many more, which she guessed were silver keys as well, were crowding the ball room that they were in.

"Now, let's celebrate her return with the traditional Celestial dances."

Lyra appeared with her harp in hand and started to play and sing melodies so beautiful, everyone just had to pair up and dance together.

The King sat down as Lucy stood looking uncomfortable, seeing as she wasn't used to this sort of thing.

"May I have this dance?"

A familiar warm voice sounded, followed by a hand leading to one of her best spirit friends.

"Loki!" Lucy smiled as she took his hand and was lead to the dance floor.

"How are you feeling?" Loki questioned as they glided around the room, "This must have been a shock for you."

"You knew I was the Princess?"

"I didn't at first, since I had been exiled for those 3 years," Loki explained, "but when I came back, the King had a talk with me. He told me that I was to protect you with my very life until you collected all the keys and came here to receive the throne."

"So that's why you kept spouting out nonsense, like calling me princess and stuff, once you came back from the Spirit World that time," Lucy realized with a gasp. The pieces had all been in front of her, she just hadn't put them together. No wonder it had been so easy for her to collect the Zodiac Spirits, she was meant to.

"Wait, didn't you keep saying stuff about you being a prince?" Lucy made another realization with surprise, "Are you a prince or something?"

"Not exactly," Loki winked at her, causing Lucy to tilt her head in confusion.

"You'll find out soon enough. It looks like your father wants to talk to you."

Loki led her back to the stage and kissed her hand.

"Thank you for the dance, princess."

And then he was gone, like magic. The spirits tended to have a teleportation magic of some sort, but Lucy waved it aside and went to follow the king into a secret room.

The room must have been sound proof, because the ruckus of the party was not heard anymore. There was a large fire place which was lit with green fire, or so it looked like.

There were two arm chairs by the fire place, the king sat in one and motioned Lucy to sit in the other.

Once they were seated the King dove into the very thing that Lucy was dying to know, how she could be his daughter when her parents were human.

"Your mother, Layla, was the original Zodiac spirit of Aquarius. I took her as my wife 25 years ago and she gave me two girls. Our life was great and we loved you girls very much, but there came a time when your mother fell in love with her Spirit Mage owner."

"Breaking all the rules, she managed to leave me for this human and live with him in the human world. Originally she took both girls, thinking they could live freely in the human world without the threat of dying, like a mere Spirit would, since they both had my blood in them."

"In about a year, one of the girls began to get sick. Layla found that the girl's magical energy was being sucked out, just like what was happening slowly to herself, but more rapid since the child did not have that much to lose. She came back to the spirit world with that child and begged me to let it live, without taking on her sins. I allowed the child to replace her mother, as the Zodiac Spirit of Aquarius."

"What?" Lucy interrupted his story, "Aquarius is my sister?"

The King just smiled before continuing.

"I knew that Layla would die in that human world before she came back to me, so I simply made a request of her. I told her she could keep you, but only if she taught you how to be a Spirit Mage and gave you the key of your sister, Aquarius, to help you out. The task would be for you to grow up and collect all 12 Zodiac Keys to resolve her sins and enter as my daughter, Princess of the Spirit World."

"There's one thing that doesn't check out about your story," Lucy looked suspiciously at him, "My dad was no Spirit Mage. My mom said they met at a merchant guild and fell in love."

"Yes, well, it turned out that that spirit mage wasn't her true love like she thought," he explained sadly, "Layla left me for someone who wasn't even her true love. That was her sin. Not being able to return to the Spirit World, she started to work at that merchant guild to support you. That is where she met your 'dad' and married him. I couldn't bear seeing the poverty they were in so I provided that man some luck in the money department."

"So when I left home, is that why my dad lost his fortune and was forced to work again?"

A nod from the King confirmed her thoughts and Lucy marveled at how her whole life was suddenly starting to make sense. Even the fact that she wasn't at all like her father, Mr. Heartfilia, finally rang clear.

Lucy was caught up in her thoughts until a particular person entered them; Natsu.

"So what you're saying is that I have to take over your throne right?"

"Yes, that's what is expected."

"But what if I don't want to stay here?" Lucy was starting to ask the important questions, "What if I want to return to earth to be with my friends and a part of Fairy Tail again?"

"I'm afraid that is impossible now," The king's eyes saddened with the truth, "The only way you were able to live on earth was because I sealed your true powers so the magic wouldn't leak from you as fast."

"Well can't you just do that again and let me go back for a couple more years?"

"The seal has been broken and cannot be performed on you a second time. The maximum amount of time that you could stay on the earth without feeling sick to your stomach would be about 3 days."

"But Loki stayed on the earth for three years before he started to die," Lucy protested, "Why can't I just go back for a couple years and say my goodbyes before coming back?"

"Right, I almost forgot to let you know," the King wisely changed the topic to something that made Lucy so curious that she stopped begging him to go back to her friends on earth.

"Loki has asked me for your hand in marriage," the King looked a little displeased by the statement, "I was watching him on earth, he was a complete playboy, so I told him that he could only marry you if you wished it so."

"Loki did what?" Lucy asked with a blush. No wonder the Lion Spirit had been saying things about Love left and right after he came back from the Spirit World. No doubt, he was trying to win her affections, and later her hand in marriage.

"Well do you wish it so?" the King asked eagerly, probably hoping she'd say no.

"I," Lucy started, thinking about all the times Loki had made her feel like she was going to have a heart attack, "I don't know."

It was the truth. She would only marry the man she loved, and she wasn't sure if she loved him like that or not. Was the happy feeling she got around Natsu love? Or was the fast beating of her heart and concern for Loki's well being Love?

Then again, maybe they were both just a type of brotherly-sisterly Love.

That didn't feel right though, the Love was general, but she had it for both of them.

"Then I will give Loki two days to change your mind," The king concluded, "Otherwise, you will be marrying the guy of my choice."

"What if I don't want to get married yet?" Lucy didn't think her father was being fair.

"You will get married, even if it's arranged," his voice became stern, "It is the tradition and it will be upheld."

"We are done talking now; I will see you in two days for your answer."

In the blink of her eyes, Lucy was back in her room. It seemed like the party had gotten over an hour or so ago and the happy Zodiac Spirits were now walking around the town and having fun.

Lucy could only think of one question as she watched the spirits have fun down below.

'Do I really belong in this world?'

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**AN: wow that was a super long chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it!**

**You know the drill, review if you want :)**


	5. Loki's First Day part 1

Disclaimer: haha I've been lying to you all this time, I actually do own Fairy Tail!

**Cyber Police: Excuse me ma'am?**

**Ummm, just kidding! I don't own Fairy Tail... *sweat drop***

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**Celestial Ties**

**Chapter 5: Loki's First Day part 1**

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Lucy woke from her deep sleep and weird dreams about Natsu and Loki fighting over her. She didn't remember when she passed out last night because she had just laid in bed thinking about what her 'father' had told her. That's when she remembered that apparently Loki had two days to woo her. Knowing Loki, she decided that she should probably get dressed before he popped in without invitation.

After getting all ready, in another short dress, since there were no shorts of any kind in her new clothing Drawers, she realized what time it was. It was already noon, she must have slept late. It was strange that with only two days to woo her, Loki had not shown up to wake her up and take her on a date or something. He must not care about her as much as she thought.

"Oh well," she sighed.

'What?' she thought with wide eyes, 'did I actually get a little sad about that?'

She brushed it off and decided that since she was stuck here for the time being, she might as well go visit her 'sister' and have a chat about why Aquarius was so mean to her all the time.

Not knowing if she was allowed out of the castle or not, Lucy decided to climb down the wall instead, she was only a couple floors up, so it wasn't that hard for her to pull off.

After that, she started walking toward the mansion that had the Aquarius zodiac stars over it, wishing that she could teleport like the other spirits.

In the blink of her eyes, she was there. She looked at the place in amazement, Lucy had actually teleported and it felt great.

"There you are," said a familiar voice.

To her left, sitting on the steps of the Aquarius mansion was none other than the lion spirit Loki.

"Loki," she said in confusion, "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you of course," he said with a smile and Lucy could see that his eyes were sparkling behind his blue-tinted glasses.

'He does look rather prince-like in that suit,' Lucy thought before she could stop herself.

"How'd you know I'd come here?"

"I didn't think you'd just leave Aquarius alone once you found out that she's your sister," Loki shrugged like it was common knowledge that Lucy would want to visit her maniac sister.

"Whatever," Lucy walked past him to the door, "Like you said; I'm here to talk to my sister Aquarius, so you can leave now."

"No can do."

Lucy suddenly felt an arm go around her shoulder and she looked up to find Loki winking at her.

"After all, I only have a day and a half now since someone likes to sleep forever."

Lucy blushed before nudging his arm off and ringing the door bell.

"Suit yourself," she warned him as they waited for Aquarius, "She'll probably just end up washing you and me away."

She could see that Loki was about to reply, with something clever no doubt, but then the door opened.

Aquarius was there in all her mermaid glory and Lucy peeked around her to see that most of her mansion was filled with water.

"What do you want?" Aquarius looked at Lucy with anger, "I'm with my boyfriend, so make it fast or I'll wash you away."

"I just wanted to talk with you," Lucy boldly answered and then smiled, "That's what sisters do right?"

"Oh, so the old man told you the truth finally," Aquarius looked bored now.

"Yeah, so could you just send your boyfriend home and talk to me about everything?"

"Why send mine home, when you brought yours," Aquarius replied angry again, "Maybe you should just come back at another time."

With that, Aquarius summoned her waters and was about to wash them away when Lucy blinked and was somewhere else again.

"That was close. Glad I teleported us in time."

Lucy looked around the place they were to find that she was in an elaborately decorated living room with golden walls, red carpet and realistic paintings of Lions. That's where the royal looking things stopped though, because most of the stuff that decorated the room was high tech. There was a white couch with what looked like built in back massagers, a huge flat-screen TV hanging on the wall and about 5 different kinds of video gaming systems.

"Are we inside your mansion?" She asked, just to make sure her thoughts were correct.

"Yeah," He smiled as he looked at all the high tech stuff, "Well follow me, I have something I want to show you."

Lucy followed him through a couple different rooms with more high tech things decorating them and finally out a sliding glass door that opened on command.

Once outside she saw the loveliest yard ever, it was a forest of some sort of spirit trees that reminded her of cherry blossoms, but they were gold in color.

Underneath the tree was a golden blanket and on top was a red picnic basket which Lucy was starting to smell the food from as they got closer.

Candles were lit all around the blanket, which made Lucy realize that day here just meant the dark green sky got a little brighter. Although it was the middle of the day, the candles worked perfectly and glowed with that same weird green fire.

"Do you like it?" Loki asked with a smug look on his face. He had been watching her practically drool over how pretty it looked.

Lucy nodded in answer, too amazed to speak.

"I thought this would be perfect for our first date."

That brought Lucy out of her stupor.

"First date?" she squeaked with nervousness and a massive blush.

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**AN: Cliffy! Haha sorry! Next chapter will have Lucy and Loki's first date as well as what's happening with the rest of the Fairy Tail gang, so look forward to it!**

**As always, give me lots of reviews because I like to know what my readers are thinking. If you have any questions about the Spiritual World I've made up, don't hesitate to ask and I'll answer them in an author's note on the next chapter =D**


	6. Natsu

**Disclaimer: The cyber police are still watching me….carefully…so no, I don't own Fairy Tail.**

**Can I please have some food now, Mr. Cyber policemen?**

***donut gets thrown in the jail cell***

**I guess even in Cyber space, the cops like donuts…I'll know how to appease them next time.**

***Hot coffee gets poured on head***

**Ow…ow…ow….ow…OW! Enjoy the story!**

***Runs to the sink***

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**Celestial Ties**

**Chapter 6: Natsu**

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"There it is, Happy!"

Natsu had gone off ahead of the group again with Happy flying him so he could get there faster. They were almost to what looked like a tree with a door in the base of it.

"Aye!" Happy answered as he headed towards the door.

Once there, Natsu pounded on the door so hard that it cracked a bit and almost flew off its hinges.

"What?" yelled a voice in annoyance as the door flew open and the owner of said voice appeared with her hands on her hips and an annoyed scowl on her face.

"My friend Lucy is in trouble and I need your help to get to the spirit world, Farla!" Natsu bellowed out, treating it as if it were one long word.

"Ok, I didn't get any of that," the young girl's scowl was replaced with a confused eyebrow raise, "But, I'll go get my grandma for you."

A couple seconds later, the girl came back down the stairs with an older woman, who must have been only a few years younger than Makarov.

"Are you Farla, then?" Natsu asked abruptly once she had made it down the stairs.

"Yes, yes," the old woman answered in a briny voice, "Who's asking and what do you want?"

Learning from his previous experience, Natsu slowed down the words so Farla could understand them.

"My name is Natsu. I'm a member of the guild Fairy tail and Master Makarov told me to come here because you might be able to help me get to the spirit world."

"What? Are you stupid?" The old woman sure was brutal, "You'll die there, idiot. Humans can't stay in their world long, even if they manage to get into it somehow. Now if you excuse me I have to take my bath."

Natsu shuddered at the thought of the old woman taking a bath, but stopped her regardless of the disgusting image in his head.

"My friend Lucy, who is also a spirit mage like you, was kidnapped by her zodiac spirit Capricorn and taken to the spirit world. I'm trying to get there so I can bring her back, can you please just open the gate for me?"

"Well that's very unfortunate for you," the old woman frowned, "I'm all out of magic at this old age. I can't even open the gate anymore."

"Wha-" Natsu was cut off.

"I could do it," the young girl was back by her grandmothers side with determination in her eyes, "But, what do I get in return?"

"Um…um…" Natsu fumbled around his pockets looking for anything valuable he could give her and then he heard a jingle of keys.

'Right,' he thought as he grabbed the key ring, 'Lucy left her keys when she went to the spirit world. I don't think she'd mind me giving one of them away so I can rescue her.'

"How about one of these keys?" Natsu pulled out the key ring and the girl's eyes went wide as she examined it.

"All 12 zodiac keys?" she eyed it like she might grab it and run.

"yeah," Natsu beamed proudly, "These belonged to my friend, Lucy. The one who got kidnapped. I'll give you one in return for you helping me out."

"Alright then, I want this one," she pointed to the Leo key and went to make a grab for it.

Natsu pulled them away in time.

"Any key except for that one." Loki was a part of Fairy Tail, so his key had to stay in the possession of Lucy.

"Fine. I'll have that one," she pointed to Aquarius.

'Well Lucy never really liked Aquarius even though she was the second most powerful spirit,' Natsu thought as he unhooked the key and gave it to the girl.

"Thanks," she beamed as she held out her hand to shake, "My name is Lisa. It's nice to meet you…" she trailed off, prompting him for his name.

"Natsu," he took her hand to shake it, "It's nice to meet you too. Now open the gate please!"

Natsu was in a rush obviously.

"Alright here it goes," Lisa walked outside and found a small creek, "Aquarius, gate of the water bearer, I open thee!"

There was a bright light and then the mermaid herself was there.

"What?" Aquarius screeched, "What's going on?"

"Hello Aquarius," Lisa drew her attention, "I'm your new master, Lisa. We can finish the contract later, first I need a favor."

"I'm not doing you any favors, silly girl," Aquarius bellowed, "Now if you excuse me, you called me during my date with my boyfriend."

Aquarius was about to return when Natsu grabbed her mermaid tail and hitched a ride.

With a flash, he found himself inside a house with a ton of water in it.

"What do you think you're doing to my beautiful tail!" she screeched as she used her water to flush him out of her house.

Natsu spit up a ton of water and then looked around.

"I made it!" he yelled in triumph, "Lucy, here I come!"

"Natsu?" a familiar voice called out questioningly.

Natsu looked to his left to find the most beautiful garden ever and there, under one of the trees, was Loki and Lucy having what seemed like an ordinary picnic.

The only thing that bugged Natsu, was the fact that Loki's arms were wrapped around her and they were in a pose like they were about to kiss!

* * *

**AN: Sorry another cliffy!**

**Next chapter you'll find out what happened between Loki and Lucy. As well as, how Natsu is going to react to this new development.**

**Stay tuned and don't forget to review!**


	7. Loki's First Day Part 2

**Disclaimer: So, I was finally released from Cyber Prison for good behavior.**

***angelic background and music***

**I do not own Fairy Tail or any of it's wonderfully thought up characters!**

**Whispers: Mr. Cyber Policeman is still watching me…**

* * *

**Celestial Ties**

**Chapter 7: Loki's First Day Part 2**

* * *

"Natsu?"

Lucy was overjoyed to see her best friend and was about to run over and hug him when she realized how close she was to Loki. She quickly darted away from him with a blush on her face, which made his eyebrows lift in curiosity.

'Could it be that she likes Natsu?' he thought as he watched the two stare at each other, Natsu with a confused expression and Lucy with her blush. He couldn't tell if the blush was her realizing that they were about to kiss or the fact that Natsu had seen them. Loki could also tell that Natsu's eyes held a bit of sadness and he started to wonder if Natsu would be his rival in love.

"How'd you get here?" Lucy broke the tension with her question, the blush totally gone from her face and a smile replacing her anxious look.

Natsu was about to respond when a huge wave of water crashed over them all.

"LUUUUCY!" Aquarius came swimming in with a furious look on her face and glared at Lucy. It was easy to find Lucy because everyone in the spirit world knew about Loki asking for Lucy's hand in marriage.

'It's only natural that he'd be trying to woo her now, stupid lion,' Aquarius thought before she began to angrily lecture her sister.

"HOW DARE YOU GIVE AWAY MY KEY!"

"Wh…what?" Lucy's answer seemed to piss the mermaid off more.

"YOU GAVE SOME IDIOT EARTH GIRL MY KEY!" She screamed in hatred, "HOW COULD YOU JUST GIVE AWAY YOUR OWN SISTER'S KEY?"

"Sister?" Lucy heard Natsu say as he scratched his head in confusion.

"Natsu, I left my keys back in the human world. Did you guys pick them up?" Lucy asked in horror. Just as she had collected all the zodiac keys, she would lose them all?

"Nope, I got them right here!" Natsu pulled out the keychain of spirit keys and handed it to Lucy as Aquarius watched on in furious silence.

"Aquarius's key is missing…"

"THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN TELLING YOU, STUPID!" Aquarius was annoyed now and was about to wash everyone away when Leo interjected. He had been silently watching the scene from the tree. He knew that it was your Spirit World death to anger the Aquarius zodiac spirit who had royal blood. Even though Aquarius was just a spirit like him, she was still the perfect daughter to the Spirit King and got whatever she wanted like a spoiled brat, the reason for her attitude, no doubt.

"Aquarius, that is enough," Loki stood tall and his voice was deep with authority, like a true prince's. Aquarius quieted down at once. She couldn't stand against Loki since he was the strongest zodiac spirit, but she made plans to whine to her dad about it later.

"Lucy, did you personally give Aquarius's key away?"

"Of course not!" She defended herself with a furious look on her face. Aquarius had been one of her strongest keys and now that key was gone. Anyone would be angry if something like that happened.

"See, Aquarius, Lucy did not give away your key," he concluded with finality, "It must have just fallen off the key chain and someone else picked it up. Now go back to your mansion."

Aquarius glared at Lucy before departing in a furious rampage.

"Thanks Loki."

Lucy smiled in relief at the lion spirit which made his heart go wild. He loved her smiles.

"So, Natsu, how did you get here?"

"Umm….let's not talk about that right now," Natsu nervously scratched his nose and looked anywhere but at Lucy. He was afraid she might kill him now that he saw how angry she had gotten over losing Aquarius' key, plus he might have caused her a lot of trouble since he forgot how violent Aquarius could be.

Lucy was about to interject and demand an answer when Natsu distracted her.

"Lucy and Loki sitting by a tree! K. I. S. S. I." and he was attacked by Lucy. He got away and started to run as Lucy ran after him. Pretty soon it turned out to be a normal game of tag and Lucy and Natsu were laughing in delight as they ran after each other.

Lucy was so happy that she forgot all about the key that she had lost somehow and her question about how Natsu got there.

'Maybe she is better off in the human world with Natsu," Loki thought with sad eyes as he witnessed the exchange. He wanted Lucy for himself, but he also wanted her to be happy. It was a struggle with himself and soon the pride of the lion in him won.

"Well, nice seeing you Natsu," Loki picked Lucy up and held her in his arms, "But, we've got somewhere to be. Make yourself at home."

With that Loki teleported Lucy and himself to the place he had been planning to take her to after they ate, before Natsu came and ruined it all.

"Woah!" Loki heard an annoying voice and looked behind him to see Natsu.

'What a sneaky kid,' Loki thought with irritation as he put Lucy down in front of him.

"Wow!" her voice joined Natsu's in amazement as they both stared at what was in front of them.

"What?" Loki joked with a grin as his glasses glinted in the light, "You didn't think we had anything fun to do around here?"

In front of them stood the Spirit World's version of a water park. Instead of blue water, like earth, the water of the Spirit World was tinted pink and sparkled and glowed. Other than the beautiful water, this water park had all the basics of a water park on earth; water slides, wave pools, lazy rivers, etc.

"Oh look!" Lucy pointed with excitement, "There's Aries and Gemini!"

The Gemini twins looked over and upon seeing Lucy, decided on transforming into her with a skimpy bikini on and caressing her boobs.

'I'm going to kill those two later!' Lucy thought with rage as Natsu started laughing. Unseen by Lucy, Loki gave the Gemini twins a fierce glare and they changed back instantly to themselves.

'I'm going to kill those two later,' Loki thought with anger, 'Showing off Lucy's body like that to all the other guys here…although I did enjoy the view.' His scowl was replaced with a grin as he imagined that Lucy again.

Natsu's laughing and Loki's grin was stopped when Lucy's fists came down on both their heads.

"Awe, Lucy, but that was so fun.." Natsu was cut off by a glare from Lucy.

"Anyway, ready to go?" Loki asked with a smile.

"But, we don't have any swim suits." Lucy stated wisely.

"Oh, don't worry about that. There's a shop inside, I'll buy you some."

Lucy's eyes went all sparkly. She couldn't wait to see how cute the swim suits were in the Spirit World.

"Alright, let's go," Natsu boredly said, trying to look cool as he crossed his arms behind his head and walked ahead of them.

"Wait," Lucy regained herself and was now serious, "Natsu, you're a human. Don't you feel weak here in the Spirit World?"

Natsu stopped and moved his limbs around, then turned to Lucy with a big smile.

"Nope!" Lucy blushed, Natsu's famous happy smile always made her heart race.

"Must be because he's a Dragon Slayer," Loki concluded as his eyes saddened at the fact that the blush on Lucy's face was because of Natsu, "They seem to be ok anywhere they go."

"I'll race you there!" Natsu challenged both of them and took off running.

"Not fair!" Lucy whined as she took off running after him.

'She must've forgotten that she can teleport here.' Loki thought with a grin as he simply teleported to the ticket gate and waited for them both with a grin on his face.

They both finally made it to the gate, Natsu triumphant over Lucy, as she was doubled over and panting.

"What do I win?" Loki beamed at Lucy.

"you…ch…cheater…" Lucy got out through her panting.

"Wow, you need to get better in shape, Lucy!" Natsu patted her back and abruptly received a glare which made him back off a little.

"We'll talk about that prize later, since you were last," Loki kept his grin on and started walking to the gate. His face serious now, he turned to the window.

"Excuse me, I'd like to buy 3 tickets please."

"Leo?" A girl's voice came from behind the glass and Loki sweat dropped. He forgot that he had been a player once and had dated most of the good looking girls in the spirit world.

"Leo! Where have you been, sugar?" A woman with long purple hair opened the window and poked her head out, trying to get a kiss from Loki.

"Um, Stella, is it?" Loki nervously dodged the incoming kiss and put his card to her face.

"Would you please charge 3 tickets to this?"

Stella took the card with a glare since he had avoided the kiss.

"Fine, but it'll cost ya 2000 spirit instead of 1500." She swiped the card and threw it back in his face, then proceeded to run away and cry.

Lucy looked at the exchange curiously and a little happy that Loki had dodged the kiss, but also a little heated that this spirit apparently knew Loki before.

'They must have kissed before for her to expect one now,' Lucy thought with irritation. She was a little surprised how she felt about that exchange, but was interrupted by Natsu.

"What's spirit?" he asked Loki, which brought curiosity about it to Lucy as well.

"You guys really thought we wouldn't have an economy of some sort?" Loki sweat dropped as they shook their heads negatively but proceeded to explain anyway.

"Each person here works as a Spirit in the human world for the currency, we oddly enough, call spirit itself. The more we are called out for battle and the more we protect or cheer up our contractor, the more spirit we make. All that spirit gets stored on this card and we use this to buy things here."

Natsu and Lucy nodded in understanding as Loki gave them their tickets and they all went through the ticket gate.

"Look, there's the shop," Lucy pointed towards a shop with swim suits hanging everywhere, "Let's go!"

* * *

**4 hours later**

* * *

After hours of play time in the water park, they were all pooped and ready to go to sleep.

"Natsu, you can stay at my house tonight," Loki explained while taking off the hat he had conveniently bought so none of his old girlfriends would see him, "Lucy has to go back to her room at the palace."

"Why does Lucy get a room at the palace?" Natsu whined, "I want a room at the palace too!"

"Oh right, you don't know yet do you," Loki grinned, "Lucy just happens to be the daughter…ouch!"

He was interrupted by a hit on the head. Lucy took back her hand and smiled dangerously.

"We'll talk about that later, Natsu," she looked at the mouthy lion spirit, "Maybe you should stay at the palace with me."

Loki sighed, he had lost the battle of keeping Natsu from sleeping in her room.

"But I haven't lost the war yet,' he thought to himself with a smile as he remembered how close Lucy had been to kissing him that afternoon.

"Loki, I'm still not very good at teleporting," Lucy confided with a blush, "Can you take us back to my room, please?"

"As you wish, princess." He got glared at for his slip up, but they both knew that Natsu wouldn't catch on to it since Loki called her that all the time on earth too.

The next second they were all standing in Lucy's room.

"Woah, Lucy!" Natsu started looking around wide-eyed, "You definitely have it good here. I thought you had been kidnapped and were being treated horribly!"

"Yeah, I'll tell you what happened tomorrow," Lucy nervously scratched her head, "For tonight, you can sleep in this room over here." She led him through the bathroom and into a different room.

"Ah!" Natsu whined childishly, "but I want to sleep in your room, Lucy!"

"Well, I guess you can sleep on the couch if you want."

She walked back into the other room and told Natsu where he could find some blankets and pillows.

As soon as Natsu was out of sight, Lucy's hand was grabbed from behind and she turned to face the one responsible.

"Come here," Loki gently guided her to her balcony.

"What's up?" Lucy asked lightly, confused why Loki was being so gentle all of the sudden. It was like that afternoon when they had almost kissed. A blush flared up on her face as she remembered that.

"I want to show you something," he pointed towards the weird, but beautiful, Spirit World sky, "Do you see those stars in the shape of a crown that glow brighter than any of the others?"

"Yeah," Lucy had seen that group of stars before, but hadn't made anything of it at the time.

"That's your father's star sign," he explained, "and the one on its left that looks like a lily was your mothers."

Lucy's eyes started to tear up. It was all so romantic, having glowing stars in the sky that signified the love that the king and her mother used to have, before her mother had sinned and gone to earth to be with another man.

"One day your father will turn back into star dust and see his love again, but that can't happen until he has someone who can take over the throne," he explained with sad eyes, "I know you really want to go back to the human world, Lucy."

"How'd you know?" she asked with curiosity since she hadn't said anything about it all day.

"I saw how sad your eyes get when you see things that remind you of earth and how happy you were to see Natsu."

"Yeah, I really miss it there, especially all my friends," Lucy's eyes got sad and misty, thinking about all her good times on earth, "I know it's selfish to say it, but I still want to go back to my old life."

"it's not selfish of you," Loki moved a piece of hair out of her face and brushed her cheek with his hand, causing a blush to form on Lucy's face, "It's only natural to want to go back to your old life when things change, especially since you will have more responsibilities here than you did on earth."

"Can't Aquarius take over and be the queen of this place?" Lucy asked in desperation, "Can't I just leave it to her and go back to my life, Loki?"

"Aquarius did not inherit the powers of the king. Only you can rule this place and keep it safe and in peace," Loki explained and then lightly joked, "Plus Aquarius would be an awful ruler!"

"You're right!" Lucy started laughing as she pictured everyone cowering in terror from the mermaid spirit. She looked back at Loki and saw his serious face with a slight smile and immediately stopped laughing because she got lost in his eyes. That's right, Loki had removed his glasses and he had the most beautiful eyes Lucy had ever seen.

"There's something else I need to tell you."

His voice sent delightful shivers down her back and he started to lean in closer with both his hands resting on the sides of her head.

"I love you," he whispered right before he closed the space.

Lucy was in shock, Loki loved her and he was now kissing her. Without any thought, since the kiss took that away from her, she responded. It was like time stopped and fireworks were exploding in the background. Then it ended, too soon for Lucy.

"I wanted to do this the proper way," Loki smiled at her and she got lost in his eyes again.

She was still in a daze when Loki kneeled to the ground in front of her.

"Lucy, will you marry me?"

* * *

**AN: haha sorry I just love to keep you guys wanting more with a cliffy. That was the looooongest chapter I've ever wrote guys! Hope you enjoyed it**

**Tune in next Monday to find out what answer Lucy will give, as well as what happened to the rest of the gang!**

**Don't forget to review! =D**


	8. The Truth and Plans

**Disclaimer: To help me with the disclaimer, someone very special came to visit!**

**Happy: Wait, I'm just here to ask you something!**

**I do not own Fairy Tail, right Happy?**

***smiles threateningly at Happy***

**Happy: Aye… *sweat drop* Now can you tell me when I get to come back into the story?**

**Awe Happy, your such a cute little flying blue kitty!**

***glomps Happy***

**Happy: NOOOOOOOO! HELP ME!**

**Enjoy the chapter friends =D**

* * *

**Celestial Ties**

**Chapter 8: The Truth and Plans**

* * *

"Wha…?" Lucy was so surprised that she couldn't even finish her words, let alone close her gaping mouth or tame her ferocious blush.

Loki smiled up at her, amused at her surprise, and pulled out a black satin ring box. He proceeded to open it, wondering how surprised she'd be when she saw the beautiful moonstone ring it held inside. That's right; Loki had gone to the moon spirit and asked for a small piece of the moon to put on the ring.

Lucy's eyes turned into saucers when she saw the glowing ring inside; the ring meant to engage her to Loki.

'What should I say?' She thought in alarm when she realized Loki would be expecting an answer, 'I mean I love Loki and that ring is so beautiful, but we're only kids. We can't marry when we're so young!'

Lucy had made up her mind. Her eyes turned sad and she opened her mouth, fully intending to hurt the man she loved and refuse the engagement, but then fate intervened.

"Alright Lucy," Natsu came barging into the room; luckily Loki and her were on the balcony behind the curtains so he couldn't see them, "I got a ton of blankets, let's make a fort!"

Lucy's eyes went wide with alarm and Loki immediately got the point and stood up.

"Think about it," he whispered before he lightly kissed her again and then disappeared.

"Lucy?" Came Natsu's voice from inside the room.

"Right here."

Lucy smiled as she walked into the room, "What took you so long?"

"I met Virgo and I tried to fight her, only to find that my powers don't work in this world. Then I ran into an old friend of yours and he suggested we build a fort!"

"Wait, what old friend?"

"Puuun."

Lucy's mouth formed a huge smile as she turned towards the door to see none other than her dog spirit Puun.

"Puun!" She ran over and hugged the dog spirit, that started to shake with excitement like he always did.

"Puun puun puuuun!"

"Puun wants to start building the fort now," Natsu translated when Lucy gave him a confused look. She only sweat dropped at how Natsu could speak Puun language before smiling again.

"Then let's get to it!"

A half hour later, Natsu and Lucy were admiring the fort they'd made with pillows and blankets and any kind of furniture that they could move to the middle of the room. It was big enough to house two people and of course Puun. Lucy got done on her hands and knees to crawl through the entrance when something hit the floor with a thud.

"What's this?" Lucy looked back to see Natsu picking up the very same ring box that Loki had offered her.

"Nothing!" Lucy shrieked as she grabbed the box and put it in one of her drawers, so fast that Natsu didn't have any time to react.

"Come on, Luce. What was it?" Natsu used his sad eyes on Lucy, causing her to feel guilty and ashamed of herself.

"Just something my father gave me," she said without hesitation and then her eyes went big as she noticed her slip up.

"When did he give it to you? It must have been before you got kidnapped."

Lucy sighed, it was time to tell the truth.

"No, Natsu. I got it here in the Spirit World."

"What? So your dad is in the Spirit World too Luce? Do we need to rescue him as well?" Natsu was getting all fired up with his famous mischievous grin.

"Yes my dad is here, well my real dad at least, and no, no one needs saving, Natsu."

Lucy could see Natsu getting confused and she climbed into the fort. Might as well be comfy as she told him the story. Natsu followed in behind her and sat on the other side, so they could be face to face.

15 minutes later, Lucy had just finished telling Natsu the whole story.

"So, you're royalty, Lucy?" Natsu asked for the umpteenth time with wide eyes.

"Yes, Natsu," she replied again with annoyance, and again Natsu started laughing.

"Hahahaha, I can't believe someone like you is royalty!" Lucy ground her teeth together and started counting backwards from 100, "No wonder you couldn't ever walk for yourself and always had to be carried!"

"95, 94, 93….That's it!" Lucy couldn't take it anymore, that last sentence from Natsu had been too much. She picked up her whip and an evil smile formed on her face.

"What was that about you not being able to use your powers, fire boy?"

Natsu stopped laughing and gulped noticeably.

"Um, Calm down Lucy," Natsu inched backwards, readying himself to run for it, "I didn't mean to piss you off. I was just joking around."

Lucy started to laugh and Natsu sighed in relief.

"Hahahaah, I got you good!" Lucy wiped her tearing eyes and smiled at Natsu, "Ok, it's definitely bed time now."

Natsu and Lucy laid down and Natsu immediately fell asleep. Lucy started thinking about old times with her Fairy Tail team and wondered what had happened to them. Why weren't they with Natsu to "save" her?

'Maybe they forgot about me already,' Lucy thought sadly before dozing off as well.

The rest of the gang had arrived an hour later than Natsu to find Happy waiting for them with a girl named Lisa, who happened to be the Spirit Mage that helped Natsu.

Ezra and Gray had asked Lisa to open the gate one more time, only to find they couldn't get through and that Aquarius was as unforgiving and merciless as always. Lisa had thrown the gold spirit key back at Ezra and Gray, stating that she didn't want a spirit with such an attitude.

Seeming to find that only Dragon Slayers could get through to the spirit world, they decided to return to the guild and look for Gajeel for help. They started to talk about how Lucy could have gotten through the gate since she was human like them.

"Maybe Lucy is a dragon slayer too!" Happy had exclaimed. No one could disagree based on the evidence, but it seemed very unlikely to Gray and Ezra, especially since they couldn't see Lucy eating spirit so she could summon spirits.

Four hours later and they were finally at the doors of Fairy Tail. Ezra wasted no time and pushed opne the door so hard that they flew back and banged against the wall, causing all the members of Fairy Tail to stop talking and look over at Ezra.

"Gajeel, if you're in here, we need your help," Ezra stated as she walked in with authority.

"What do you want?" A voice rang out from the corner of the room. Ezra looked over to see Gajeel eating a pile of iron in boredom. Ezra walked over while Gray stood at the door and waited with Happy.

"Our team mate Lucy was taken to the spirit world. Natsu went after her and never came back. It seems like only dragon slayers are able to enter and we want you to enter the spirit world and bring back Lucy and Natsu."

"Not interested." Gajeel began eating his iron again.

"I'm sorry, but that is not an option." Ezra glared at Gajeel and was about to face him when the master turned into a giant.

"That's enough!" He demanded in his giant form. Once Ezra and Gajeel had gotten out of their fighting poses, he turned back into his small form and continued, "Gajeel, you will help them get back Lucy and Natsu."

"Fine." Gajeel grunted. It wasn't like he didn't want to help in the first place, he just wanted to pick a fight with Ezra. She was still the second strongest in the guild and Gajeel wanted her place.

"Let's go then," Ezra started to walk away.

"Ezra," the master called, making her turn around, "You cannot leave so late at night. Get some rest. You can travel back to Farla's cottage in the morning."

"But, master, we need to get Natsu and Lucy out of that world as soon as possible!"

"No," the master stared Ezra down, "Now go to your courters and get some sleep, all four of you."

"Fine. Be ready at 7am to head out everyone." Ezra commanded before she took off in the direction of the Fairy Tail women's dorm.

The others took off their respectable ways, Gajeel grumbling in dislike.

* * *

**AN: No cliffy today! Hope you enjoyed the chapter Oh, and I looked online at Fairy Tail Wiki and it said that the iron dragon slayer was named Gajeel, but I have seen him being called Gazille a lot. If anyone knows which one is his real name, please let me know.**

**Coming up: What does Lucy decide to do that changes everything? What does Gajeel do that changes what Lucy changed? Yeah, kind of a head scratcher there, but you'll find out next chappy.**

**Stay tuned and always review to let me know how I'm doing! =D**


	9. Decisions and Gajeel

**Disclaimer: I never understood why this must be put on each page…you'd think just having it on the first page of your story is enough, but oh well, I don't want to get in trouble. Therefore, for the 9th time, I do not own Fairy Tail….but wish I did :P**

* * *

**Celestial Ties**

**Chapter 9: Decisions and Gajeel**

* * *

Lucy had been trying to sleep all night, but with all the thoughts going through her head, she had failed. Even though she looked awful, she had decided something that sleepless night. With new determination, she silently made her way out of the tent.

"Where are you going Lucy?" Natsu had woken up from her moving around, she guessed, but he looked like he could use a couple more hours of sleep.

"Bathroom," Lucy falsely stated causing Natsu to fall back asleep. She didn't want him to know what she was doing yet due to the fact that he would probably get really sad about her decision.

Guessing that her father, the spirit king, would be up and working by now, she walked to his office with the help of Virgo.

Knocking on the big oak door, she silently went over what she was about to say.

"Come in, Lucy," the king's voice sounded through the door. Lucy didn't even think twice about how he knew it was her and relocated herself inside the room, standing only half way in the room.

"You look like you didn't get much sleep," the king commented with concern, "Is something wrong?"

"No, I just had a lot of thinking to do and missed some sleeping hours."

"Have you finally come to a decision on whether you will accept the marriage to Loki or not then?"

"Well, yes that as well, but first I want to tell you something that I've made up my mind on," the king motioned her to continue with a curious look on his face.

"I have decided to take your place as the next queen of the Spirit World," she said with a stoic face. After Loki had told her about the spirit king wanting to see her mother again and live with her in the stars, Lucy had felt sad for the lonely king. She felt it was her responsibility to take over the throne so he could be happy again.

"That is good news," the king smiled sadly, "I know it took you a lot of thinking and courage to admit this out loud and I know how much you don't want the responsibility, but I thank you for accepting your destiny, my daughter."

Lucy felt a rush when he called her his daughter. She had never felt recognition or pride from her real father and it was such an overwhelming feeling to have a dad that loved her.

"I have also decided that even though I am not ready for marriage yet, I will marry Loki," She showed her new engagement ring with a smile, "I understand that it is a tradition to marry young in royal families and I have realized that I really do love Loki."

"That is a decision that I will have to respect," the king said with a frown, "He's not my favorite, but I have seen that you have changed his ways, plus he is the most powerful spirit other than you and I. I approve this marriage."

Lucy beamed, happy that her father's dislike for Loki, since he was once a playboy, wasn't causing him to make her marry some different spirit of his choosing.

"Now go and get some sleep, my child," he said with a laugh, "You look like you've been hit by a galloping spirit horse."

'Galloping spirit horse? They have those here?' Lucy thought with wonder while she walked out of the king's office and back to her room.

She climbed up into her comfy bed instead of the fort and fell asleep, knowing that she wouldn't wake up for at least 6 hours, even if someone decided to play a musical instrument in her ear.

'Gotta tell Loki I accept his marriage proposal when I wake up,' she thought briefly before her eyes shut and she was dead to the world around her.

* * *

Gajeel was dreaming about Iron. A big heaping pile of Iron stood in front of him as high as a 6-story building and as wide as a merry-go-round. His eyes started to tear up as he looked at all his food.

'Wait,' he thought in confusion, 'I don't cry. Why are my eyes tearing up?'

That's when something came flying at his face….and splat!

Gajeel woke up with a start to find himself flying over the country side at lightning speeds.

"I'm flying?" he asked in confusion as he wiped off the bug that had hit him in the face.

"Aye!" a voice came from his back, "Ezra wanted you to get there as fast as possible."

"What?" Gajeel couldn't believe that they had dared to go into his room and take him from it while he was sleeping, not to mention fly him out on happy.

"They didn't want to wake you up because they thought you might not agree," Happy explained.

"Alright then," Gajeel was actually enjoying flying through the air, "So how long until we get there?"

"We're already here!" Happy exclaimed as he came down and dropped Gajeel on the ground, "I can't believe you slept through that whole ride."

"Here," Happy handed him the golden Aquarius key, "Have the girl named Lisa open up the Spirit World and bring Natsu and Lucy back."

Happy lay down and went right to sleep; it had been a busy morning for him.

Gajeel knocked on the door.

"What do you want?" a girl opened the door and stood with her arms crossed. Gajeel did not like her attitude and decided that he wouldn't be nice to her.

"Summon Aquarius with this key," Gajeel threw the golden key at her which she caught quickly, "In about 15 minutes after I enter the spirit world, summon her again. Come on."

"Alright then," Lisa said with hearts in her eyes. There had never been a guy that had treated her so harshly, and she liked it, even if he was a little funny looking.

Lisa walked out to the middle of the forest, followed by Gajeel, and she summoned Aquarius.

"You again?" Aquarius was so furious she could see her eyes lighting up with fire contrary to her main element, "I'm not going to do anything for you so you better just send me back now!"

"My pleasure," Lisa said with a grin as the water spirit looked at her with shock. Gajeel grabbed a hold of Aquarius's arm and then Lisa closed the gate, causing both Aquarius and Gajeel to get flushed back to the spirit world.

"Another hitch hiker?" Aquarius was still fiery mad and was about to wash him away when Gajeel ran away.

He had caught the scent of Natsu, following it to a glorious garden and then to an amusement park and then finally to a big castle.

"Found you both," Gajeel said with a grin. He didn't know it'd be this easy to find them. Jumping up onto a balcony where their scents radiated from the most, Gajeel stepped into the room. He found Natsu in the fort and frowned, he really didn't want to save this one, and then he picked up Lucy from the bed. He ran back to Aquarius's mansion quickly and found her enraging to summon over the phone.

"15 minutes are up!" Gajeel exclaimed as he rushed in and just barely got a hold of Aquarius's arm before she was sucked into the human world again.

Lisa immediately closed the gate again before Aquarius could say anything and Gajeel started walking away.

"Wait!" Lisa called after him, "Take this cruddy spirit key back with you too."

Gajeel turned around and caught the key that had been thrown to him.

"No thanks or anything," Lisa admired, "I don't even know his name."

"But I know he's a part of Fairy Tail." She grinned mischievously as he was flown away by the blue cat she had met the first time.

Lucy woke with a start. Something was wrong. She felt weak, like she had been sleeping for a week or something. She slowly stretched out her arms to stretch and found that she couldn't move them as freely as before.

Slowly, she stood up and looked around. She was back in her room; her real earth room.

"What?" Lucy was stricken, she couldn't believe that she was back. She thought about her time in the Spirit World.

"Maybe it was all a dream?" She thought out loud in horror. Maybe she had been asleep for those three days instead of in the spirit world.

"It wasn't a dream," Lucy looked over to see Natsu beaming at her, "We're finally back in the human world, Lucy. Now you don't have to worry about taking over the throne and having a ton of responsibilities. You can stay here with us!"

"yeah," Lucy smiled slightly as she thought about all the good times she could have with all her friends now. It sounded good and she quickly decided that she wouldn't tell them anything about what happened.

"Natsu, please don't tell anyone about me," Lucy more asked then demanded.

"Why not?" Natsu scratched his head in confusion, "Don't you want to brag to everyone about how you're a royal?"

"No, I don't want anyone to know," Lucy smiled strangely, "Let's just go and see everybody now."

Natsu was very confused by this new change in Lucy's attitude. She was usually so lively and funny, but something in her had changed. She was still fun to be around, but it was almost as if she had grown up some over the past few days.

Natsu followed Lucy out the door and they headed back to Fairy Tail.

* * *

**AN: This was a shorter chapter, but I got everything that needed to be done in it. I'm going to try to update tomorrow because then I'm going to take a 4 day weekend for the fourth of July.**

**Coming up: What does Loki do about this development? What will happen to Loki?**

**Stay tuned! As always I want to say thanks for all your wonderful reviews and thanks to GakuenAliceGRL for letting me know that I had the right name for Gajeel! Also, huhsmile, I can't believe my story is book marked on your phone! That made my day =D**

**Well everyone, have a great day and look forward to tomorrow's update!**


	10. The Human World

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail -_-**

* * *

**Celestial Ties**

**Chapter 10: The Human World**

* * *

"Loki, come in," the king's voice came through the door, signaling Loki to move through it. He had been summoned by the King before he could even go and see Lucy.

'I wonder what he wants so early in the morning?' Loki thought with a yawn.

"My daughter has been kidnapped," the king said with sad eyes while Loki's eyes widened in shock.

"Are you sure she was kidnapped?" Loki started worrying about if she left on her own will.

'Maybe my proposal scared her and she decided to run away back to Fairy Tail.'

"Other than the fact that, this morning, Lucy herself came to tell me she had accepted her destiny of becoming queen someday, Aquarius reported to me that a man with dark hair and iron on his nose escaped into the human world with Lucy and some pink haired boy."

"Gajeel…" Loki whispered in recognition.

"So, I take it you know this kidnapper?" The king had obviously heard Loki's whisper.

"He's a member of Fairy Tail," Loki explained, "They must have thought that Lucy was kidnapped here and ordered him to rescue her."

"Awe, that guild in the human world," the king said with recognition, "Well, it must just be a misunderstanding then, but I still need Lucy to come back."

'Don't order me to bring her back. Don't order me to bring her back,' Loki thought over and over, hoping that he wouldn't have to be the one to tear Lucy from her friends and life in the human world.

"Loki, I need you to go to the human world and bring her back," the king confirmed his fears, "After you make sure she has told her friends the truth; that she will not be able to see them ever again."

Loki sighed, "As you wish…"

"Good. Now get going," the king used his hand to wave Loki out, "There's not a single second to waste."

With that Loki concentrated on Lucy and in the blink of his eyes, he was where she was; in the human world.

* * *

"Lucy! Lucy! Lucy!" Loki's eyes went wide with curiosity as he heard everyone chanting her name. He also saw that he was in Fairy Tail and all the members were grouped around something in the middle.

He couldn't see around the mob of people so he asked the guy with the picture magic what was happening.

"Cana challenged Lucy to a drink off in celebration of her return!" the guy replied excitedly.

"A drink off?" Loki was shocked, "But she's too young for that!"

The guy just shrugged, "It's a special occasion and it looked like she needed a drink!"

Loki put his hand to his face in exasperation, but then a thought came into his mind.

'Drunk Lucy, I wonder what she'll do,' he thought with a grin, his glasses glinting like usual. He had completely forgotten why he was there in the first place.

A bunch of "awes" and "it's ok Lucy"'s came out of the crowd and Loki knew it was over.

The crowd dispersed and everyone went back to their seats, exposing Lucy. She didn't look too good; a big barrel of alcohol sat at her feet and he could see that she was sweating a bit.

"Loki!" Lucy stumbled over to him and hugged him.

'Oh yeah, she's drunk. Might as well milk this for all I can,' Loki thought with a smirk.

"I drank half a barrel full!" She reported with excitement, slurring her words together as she talked, "But Cana drank 5 barrels of it, so I lost!"

She stuck out her tongue then pouted. Loki couldn't resist laughing; her facial expression was just too funny.

"Stop laughing at me!" She smacked his head, which only made Loki laugh harder.

"Fine," she crossed her arms childishly and started to stumble away, "I'm gonna go marry Natsu then!"

'What does she mean by that?' he wondered, but decided to play along anyway. She was drunk and probably didn't know what she was saying. Loki grabbed her hand before she could escape and pulled her to face him; much like the night that he had proposed to her.

"But Natsu wouldn't be as fun as me," he winked at her with a grin.

"You're right, he's more fun than you!" she stuck out her tongue and started to stumble away again.

That had hit a nerve, even if she was drunk Loki didn't like her saying that Natsu was better than him, especially when Natsu was his rival. Loki pulled her back again and this time lifted her into his arms.

"Then shall I show you how much more fun I can be?" he suggested with a smirk, his glasses glinting.

Drunk Lucy reached up, surprisingly to Loki, and took off his glasses.

"Your eyes are so pretty," she smiled up at him, "You shouldn't hide them with these!"

She then threw them, to his surprise again, and started grinning like a kid that had just committed a crime.

"My glasses!" Loki put Lucy down and was about to run after them in panic. He wore the glasses so that girls wouldn't get lost in his eyes. It seemed to happen a lot, and Lucy was no exception.

"No," Lucy was the one to pull Loki back this time, "Mine."

Loki's eyes widened when Lucy suddenly brought his face to hers and kissed him.

Suddenly he got hit over the head with something hard.

"What?" he broke the kiss to see who had hit him.

"Taking advantage of a drunk girl, Loki?" Cana smiled sadistically and the bat in her hand came up again, "That's low even for you!"

"I didn't do anything," Loki explained in terror of the drunk man abuser, "Lucy's the one that kissed me!"

"You better start running," the wicked smile on her face seemed to get more evil.

"Better run, Loki!" Lucy started laughing, almost like she knew that would happen, and then stumbled away, going to spend time with Ezra, Gray, and Natsu.

"Damn it," Loki cursed before he started to run, being chased by Cana and her metal bat.

* * *

Two hours later, he had finally found a hiding place and it seemed like Cana had stopped trying to find him and was now sitting at the bar drinking more barrels of alcohol.

From his hiding place, he had a clear view of Lucy and her friends. There, on her beautiful face, was the happy smile that she usually exhibited. He could tell that she was carefree right now and loving every minute of her life; a mood that she hadn't had while she was inside the spirit world.

'Maybe it's better for her to stay here,' he thought with a smile, but then it turned to a frown. Even though none of the others could tell, Loki could see that she was weakening fast. If he didn't get her away from them soon, they would figure out that she was in pain.

"Lucy, you look tired," Loki had made his way over and said this as Lucy had looked at him, "Let me walk you back to your home."

Loki held out a hand and Lucy, with understanding and thankfulness in her eyes, took it.

"He's right," Lucy told her friends with a fake yawn, "I'm really tired. I'll see you tomorrow."

They all waved and gave their individual "good nights" before Loki and Lucy walked out the door hand in hand.

"Is something going on between those two?" Gray asked the others. He received a shrug from Ezra and Natsu as his answer.

* * *

"Thanks, Loki," Lucy told him as she slowly walked beside him.

"No problem," he frowned as he saw her steps slow down, "You're getting weak Lucy. Does it hurt yet?"

"Yes, it's starting to get painful," Loki lifted her up and cradled her in his arms, "How are you not weak or hurting right now?"

"I'm used to it," Loki dissolved her curiosity.

"You know," Loki started, deciding to do the opposite of what he was sent to do, "If you want to stay here for 3 years, you can. You just have to fight like I did."

"I can stay?" Lucy asked with widened eyes, "I thought I would die if I stayed for another day."

"Your father probably told you that so you wouldn't run away," Loki frowned, "You actually have more power than I do. You could probably stay here for 4 years, maybe more."

"Is it selfish of me to say that I want to stay?" Lucy frowned but then smiled sadly, "But there was one thing I still want that would have been given to me in the spirit world."

"What is that?" Loki asked in confusion.

"You," Lucy held up her hand with the ring on it causing Loki's eyes to widen in amazement, "As my husband."

"Whatever you want, princess," Loki smiled before kissing her. This was like the kiss he had given her when he first proposed, but it had so much meaning this time.

He had finally gotten to her apartment, but Lucy was already asleep in his arms.

Loki laid her down on her bed and covered her up before disappearing back to the spirit world.

* * *

'I have to do this for Lucy,' he thought with confidence as he barged into the king's office.

"Loki?" the king was confused obviously, "What is the meaning of this? Where is Lucy?"

"Sorry, my king, but I am going to disobey your orders this one time," Loki's face was stoic and his words were serious, "For the sake of your daughter, who wants to stay in the human world, I will protect her and stay with her."

"Loki, what are you saying?" the king was not amused, "You know as well as I do that Lucy will die in 3 years like you almost did."

"Then when she is about to die, I will bring her back," Loki declared with triumph.

"Loki," the king shook his head with sadness, "It doesn't work that way. If a spirit decides to live in the human world out of their own free will, they cannot come back here."

"Why not?" this was new information to Loki. He had thought that he knew all the rules, but he was wrong apparently.

"That is something even I don't know," the king sighed, "That is actually the reason why my wife had to die all those years ago. She chose to stay in the human world, but when that awful human broke up with her, she couldn't get back through. Even I, as mighty and powerful as I am, could not help her to come back."

"So that's it then?" Loki's fists curled in rage, "She stays there, she dies, but if she comes back I can tell you right now that she won't be happy here!"

"There is nothing that can be done," the king said solemnly.

"There has to be something!" Loki had lost his temper now, "I won't let you bring her back here until I can find a way so that she can stay and come back when she's about to die!"

Loki was about to walk away when all of the sudden, he was frozen in place. He couldn't move his body at all and all he could see was the king's furious face.

"Loki, Spirit of Leo the Lion, you have now been renounced from your position as a zodiac spirit," Loki's eyes widened in shock, "Hence forth, you shall be imprisoned in the castle jail. Guards, take him away from my sight."

Spirit guards came in and picked up the frozen Loki before walking out the door.

"Virgo," the king had seen Virgo watching the commotion with uninterest, "You shall go to the human world and bring back Lucy in Loki's place."

"Sorry, my king, but Loki was the only one of us that could get to the human world without being called out."

"Then inform all the zodiac spirits that if Lucy calls upon them, they are ordered to bring her back here to me."

Virgo bowed before disappearing; no doubt she was doing what she was told and visiting all 10 other zodiac spirits to tell them about the king's new order.

Once everyone was gone and the door was closed, the King laid his head down upon his desk in exasperation.

"I'm sorry Lucy," he whispered quietly as he looked at a photo of Lucy's mother smiling happily, "But, I can't lose another one of my precious family."

* * *

**AN: Wow, the plot is starting to thicken! Sorry to tell you all this, but I'm taking a 4-day weekend for the fourth of July, so this will be my last update until Tuesday _ I know, I really want to know what happens next too! lol**

**Coming up: Will Lucy get taken back to the spirit world? What will happen to poor Loki?**

**Stay tuned and remember to review, since I love to hear how you readers like my story.**

**Have a wonderful Fourth of July weekend! =D**


	11. Back to the Spirit World

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail…**

* * *

**Celestial Ties**

**Chapter 11: Back to the Spirit World**

* * *

"Lucy!Wake up!" A loud voice woke Lucy up from her dreams. She opened up her eyes in annoyance to find Natsu excitedly standing by her bed.

"We got another job to do!" He smiled as he waved the job sheet in front of her face.

"Jewel Thief," she read aloud with interest.

"I thought you'd like the reward," Natsu confessed, causing Lucy to look down to that part with curiosity.

"Free jewelry?" She shrieked with stars in her eyes, "Let's go!"

Lucy grabbed Natsu's hand and ran off towards where their job was.

* * *

After accepting the job from a rather happy looking fat man, who wore so much jewelry that Lucy wondered how he could even move, they decided that they would wait for night and stake out at the place, since the thief probably wouldn't come until night.

In the meantime, they decided to get a bite to eat.

"Where's Loki?" Natsu asked, absent mindedly, while taking another bite of his cheeseburger.

"I don't know," Lucy frowned, not wanting to talk about how she'd woken up to find Loki gone, "It's not like I'm his keeper. He's probably in the spirit world on a date or something."

'That two-timing idiot,' she thought with anger, 'I bet he is in the spirit world on a date. What a jerk!'

Natsu shrugged, unaware of Lucy's mental battle, and they went back to their previous topic of how they would catch the thief.

* * *

"Where is he?" Lucy put her hands over her face in frustration.

Natsu had dropped her back at her room an hour ago and gone off somewhere claiming he had something else to do before they had their stake out that night.

Lucy had been waiting patiently for Loki to jump out and explain why he had left her, but he hadn't and now she was getting angry.

"He probably is on a date!" She convinced herself and decided to pull him out of it and give him an ear full.

"Leo, Spirit of the Lion," she called as she turned the golden key like she was unlocking a door, "Hear my call and come out!"

The bright light started to form into a body and Lucy got ready to give him an earful, but then something weird happened, instead of Loki, a note appeared instead.

Lucy frowned as she read the note aloud.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, but the key of spirit Leo the lion is temporarily out of service," Lucy's brows shot together in confusion, "A new Leo will be chosen in two days time. Please recall Leo at that time and renew your contract."

The bottom had been signed by the spirit king and Lucy crumbled up the note in rage.

'What did he do to Loki?' Her anger at Loki from before was now turned toward her father. She decided that she would need to get some answers and the only spirit she felt she could trust was none other than the gentle Ram spirit Aries.

"Aries, Spirit of the Ram. Hear my call and come."

The bright light came back and this time it formed a body and then turned into Aries.

"Oh no," she frowned as she backed up from Lucy, "Why did you have to call me?"

"Aries? What's wrong?" Lucy was confused why Aries was so afraid of being called, did she have bad news?

"Where's Loki?" Lucy asked, getting right to the point, in case the Ram decided to do a forced closure.

"The spirit king locked him up," Aries whimpered as she pulled her dress down more, always self conscience of the clothing she had to wear.

Lucy was surprised, "Why did he lock Loki up?"

"I don't know," Aries confessed in embarrassment, "But, we spirits were also given the order to bring you back to the spirit world if you called on us."

"I guess I have no choice," Lucy thought out loud as Aries looked at her in confusion.

"Yes you do," Aries fought, "I'll just say that you did a forced closure before I could grab hold of you!"

"No," Lucy smiled sadly, "I won't let you get in trouble for my sake. Just wait a second."

Lucy went over to her desk and scribbled down a note for Natsu, explaining that she had gone to the spirit world and wouldn't be coming back.

She left the note on her desk, hoping Natsu would notice it.

"Alright, let's go," Lucy grabbed a hold of Aries. Aries obeyed her master's wishes and jumped back through the gate.

* * *

"Aries, your house is so cute!" Lucy, momentarily forgetting her reason for returning to the spirit world, shrieked as she stared at all the cute fluffy furnishings with starry eyes.

Aries nodded shyly and then led Lucy to the door.

"We're supposed to take you to the king ourselves," she explained, obviously not wanting to.

"That's ok Aries," Lucy knew the ram spirit didn't want to be the one responsible for turning in their master, "I can get there by myself."

"Good luck," Aries blushed as Lucy smiled and then disappeared.

Lucy reappeared at the doors to her father's study.

She barged right in, no need for announcing herself or knocking politely.

"Lucy?" the king's eyes lit up with joy and ran around his desk to envelope her in a hug.

Lucy was so surprised that her fighting spirit was momentarily tamed, but then she remembered what she had come to say.

"I'm back," she started as she forced her way out of his arms, "to fulfill the promise I made to you. I will take over the throne as your heir, but there is one condition now."

"Anything you want," the king pleaded as he sat down at his desk again.

"I want you to release Loki," she declared with triumph, it had turned out to be easier than she thought to get what she wanted.

"Anything but that," the king corrected, causing Lucy to get madder than she was before.

"Fine, then I'll be going back to the human world now."

"No!" the king cut her off.

"Why not?" she demanded, "Why can't you just let Loki go? I promised to stay here if you did didn't I?"

"It's because I can't trust him," the king confessed sadly, "He came in here demanding that I let you stay in the human world."

"Loki did that for me?" she said with a smile.

"Yes," the king frowned, "He even knew what would happen if you did."

"I'd die if I stayed there too long," Lucy recited automatically, "I know, I know."

"That's not all," the king continued with a curious look from Lucy, "If you go to the human world of your own free will and plan on staying there for a couple years, it's considered a sin to the spirit world. Due to forces that I do not command, you would be locked out and unable to come back before you died."

"How do you know this?" Lucy demanded, "Have you seen it before?"

"yes," the king's eyes saddened, "I know because it's what happened to your mother."

Lucy let her shock sink in before continuing their debate, which had already been won.

"Fine," she said with contempt, "I will continue to live here. I will leave my life on earth and inherit your throne here. It's a promise."

"I will let Loki go then," the king smiled, this time with more joy, "After all, I wouldn't want to ruin my chance at having grand children!"

Lucy's face flared with embarrassment as she held the hand with her engagement ring on it.

"Are you going to give him his place back as being Leo the lion spirit?" Lucy asked, remembering what that note had said.

"No," the king explained, "If he's going to marry you, he's going to need to take the same training as you to learn how to be a good ruler. He'll need more time for that, so Leon will take his place as Leo the Lion."

"Well his name does sound more appropriate than Loki's," Lucy smiled, just happy that Loki would be released.

"We'll let Loki go and take him to his new room," the king explained, "Now go back to your room and get some sleep."

Lucy waved good bye and walked out of the study and to her room.

She went into the bathroom to do her nightly routine and then, after changing into a night gown from her wardrobe, got into the big comfy bed.

'I guess I'll never see Natsu, Happy, Gray, Ezra, or any of my friends again,' she thought sadly, as tears started rolling down her cheeks.

Lucy cried herself to sleep that night, thinking all the while about the things on earth that she would miss.

* * *

**AN: Sorry this chapter was a bit boring, as well as short :O But don't worry because there's going to be another update tomorrow.**

**Coming up: Will Lucy really spend the rest of her life burdened by the weight of royalty? What will Natsu do about the note she left behind? Will Loki really allow Lucy to stay away from the people she cares about?**

**Tune in next time for chapter 12. Don't forget to review, but don't be too mean because I kind of lost my writing touch. A 4 day weekend kind of drained me of my creativity, but don't worry it'll come back by tomorrow. ;)**


	12. Friends and Family

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is NOT mine :)

* * *

**

**Celestial Ties**

**Chapter 12: Friends and Family**

* * *

Natsu opened up the doors to Fairy Tail and walked in a bit before yelling to get everyone's attention.

"I just left Lucy at her apartment," he announced, "She bought the bit about having to prepare to catch the thief. Who's playing the thief again?"

"I am," Elfman said while flexing his muscles, "I dare you two to try to catch me, because I'm manlier than anyone!"

Everyone sweat dropped and Ezra sighed.

"I hope this turns out alright," Ezra walked over to Natsu as everyone started hanging streamers and stuff around, "So did we fool Lucy or does she seem like she knows?"

"Actually," Natsu grinned, "It seems like she's totally forgotten that it's her birthday!"

"Nice," Gray joined the conversation, "It's good that we got her back in time for this."

"Put on some clothes!" Ezra yelled in irritation at the ice mage.

"Huh?" Gray looked down to find only his boxers, "Not again!"

He ran away as Natsu doubled over laughing and Ezra couldn't help but smirk.

* * *

"Looks good," Ezra wiped the sweat off her forehead and requipped the work clothes she'd been wearing for a party dress.

The Fairy Tail guild was decked out with all kinds of birthday stuff and there was a heap of presents on one table and a big cake, made in the shape of the guild's bird sign, on another. They had been planning this party ever since they learned that Lucy had never had a proper birthday party before. The birthday parties her dad had thrown her had been for showing her off to her potential suitors. The presents she had been given were always to please her father or show off how wealthy the family was that was giving it to her.

"Elfman," Natsu patted him on the back with a big smile, "Go get into position. I'll go get Lucy and bring her to the check point one."

They high fived and then both ran out of the guild and in different directions.

* * *

Once Natsu arrived at her apartment, he barged into it like normal.

"Lucy, it's time to go catch…." Natsu trailed off as he saw the room was empty. He checked the bathroom, just in case, but she didn't seem to be there either.

He started to think that maybe she thought she was supposed to meet him outside of the Jewelry shop and was about to start running over there when he saw a piece of paper laid out on her desk.

Natsu picked up the note and read it; his grin slowly turning into a frown as he read on. Finally he got to the last sentence and exploded, literally.

"What do you mean that you will never be coming back?" he roared with rage causing fire to come out of his mouth and the note to burn up in his hand.

Cooling down, he decided that he would need to alert the others; Lucy was in the Spirit World now and the party couldn't proceed as planned. After that he was going to take Lucy back, even if it killed him.

He threw open the doors to Fairy Tail to see the lights flash on and hear everyone yelling "Happy Birthday!" and then once they saw who it was, fading off and standing awkwardly.

"Where's Lucy?" Ezra walked up to Natsu with a worried expression, followed by Gray and Happy.

"Spirit World," Natsu explained briefly, "She left a note saying that she wasn't going to be coming back ever. She also left these."

Ezra frowned as Natsu held up the ring of spirit keys, Lucy's spirit keys.

"Was she kidnapped again?" Gray asked.

"No," some sadness came into Natsu's eyes, "The note she left behind told me that she left of her own free will. I actually have something to tell you about Lucy."

Ezra crossed her arms and nodded for Natsu to tell them.

"Lucy didn't want you guys to know yet," Natsu gulped thinking about what she would do to him for telling if they got her back, "But, she's actually the daughter of the Spirit King."

"What?" Gray, Happy and Ezra said in unison with confused faces. They weren't expecting that at all.

"Lucy is," Natsu was about to repeat what he said, but Ezra cut him off.

"No, we heard what you said, but how?"

"That's a long story," Natsu looked at the clock, "I'll let Lucy tell you herself once we get her back."

"Wait," Gray frowned, "You mean, to get her back we'll probably have to fight with the Spirit King?"

"If we can't talk him into letting her come back," Natsu smirked, knowing what Gray was getting at.

"Then this should be fun!" Gray smirked as well. Natsu and him were always ready for a challenge, "Let's go!"

Gray and Natsu were about to run off when Ezra held them back.

"Aren't you guys forgetting something?" they both stared at her innocently, so she continued with a sigh, "One, the only person who can get us into the Spirit World is four hours away, and two, Gray and I couldn't get into the Spirit World before."

"Oh," the two dumb boys said in unison.

"Then let's tear open our own path!" Natsu put his hand in the air and ran off, followed by a pumped Gray, a clueless Happy, and a mentally exhausted Ezra.

* * *

Lucy awoke from her slumber and stretched while yawning. She went to get out of the bed and found she was stuck.

"What?" she said aloud as she looked at her stomach, where she had been stuck and found a hand.

'That's not my hand,' she thought, still half asleep, but then her eyes opened wide.

"A hand!" she screamed as she unhooked herself and flew off the bed and onto the floor.

"Huh?" the hand recoiled back and the half-asleep person stretched and yawned, much like Lucy had.

"Who are you?" she got out her whip and prepared to use it.

"Lucy?" the blanket finally came off of the person's head, revealing none other than Loki.

He saw the whip and gave her a wink, "Kinky."

Lucy blanched and decided to whip him just for that comment alone. She was still not fully awake so she didn't snap it hard enough and Loki caught it instead. She was pulled into the bed and on top of Loki before she could even think of letting go of the whip.

"Wh-what are you doing in my bed?" she stammered, fully realizing the intimate pose they were in.

"I was told that this was my new room," he smirked at her as he saw that Lucy was starting to get lost in his eyes.

"No wonder you wear those glasses all the time," Lucy said aloud her thoughts and then blushed fiercely, forgetting why she was mad.

Loki put her on the bed next to him and reached over to the night stand on his side. He picked up his glasses and put them on.

"Better?" he asked with a grin as the glasses glinted.

Lucy just huffed in response before getting out of the bed, grabbing some clothes and going into the bathroom to put them on and get ready.

She had just gotten done when a knock came from the door that led to the hallway.

"Come in," she called as she walked out of the bathroom.

"Good morning, Princess Lucy," Virgo opened the door and bowed, "Your father is waiting for you in his study."

Lucy thanked her before waving good bye to Loki and walking out the door. It was only a five minute walk to his study and she knocked before entering.

"Good morning father," she greeted, trying to act as she should in such a situation.

"Good morning Lucy," he replied with a smile at her behavior, "Your first lesson today will be history. Come sit down, I will be your teacher."

Lucy did as she was told and sat down. Once she was comfortable, her father started his lecture.

She really tried to pay attention, but there were more interesting matters on her mind, other than the fact that the Spirit World had been made by some long dead guy who had been the first king. For example, she thought about her friends on earth and how many experiences she would never have again.

'She's not paying attention,' the King thought as he watched the sparkle that was always in Lucy's eyes go dead and the face around those eyes turned sad.

"Lucy," he broke into her thoughts and she looked at him expectantly, "Why are you so attached to this world full of mere humans?"

Lucy smiled sadly at the question and simply answered with, "It's my home."

The king still didn't understand, he had been raised to be a ruler and had never had the privileges that Lucy had before.

"It's lunch time," he announced after checking the clock on the wall that claimed it was noon, "Go on down to the dining room and have the maids make you something. Come back up when you're done, your next lesson is on etiquette and I will introduce you to your teacher."

Lucy nodded, the sparkle never returning to her eyes, and walked out and down to the dining hall.

* * *

"Why….won't….it…..work!" Gray panted while he pounded on the hole they had somehow made with their combined magic and a spirit key.

"Works for me," Natsu grinned as he stuck his hand in and out like he was performing a great magic trick.

"Watch out!" Ezra yelled as she requipped another set of armor and slammed into the barrier. She bounced right back off and rested on the ground panting for a bit.

"I'm hungry," Gray whined as his stomach growled.

"Well it looks to be about noon," Ezra commented as she looked at the sun that was right in the middle of the sky.

"How can you think of that now?" Natsu frowned, "If you guys can't get in, I'm going to fight the Spirit King myself and get Lucy back!"

"You can't do it by yourself," Gray started pounding on the barrier again, "Let….me….in!"

All of the sudden he was blown back by some unseen force.

"I am the gate keeper, Aro, what business do you mortals have in the Spirit World that you so desperately try to get in?" A voice bellowed as what looked like a Spirit Soldier stepped out.

"Our friend was taken to the Spirit World," Ezra stood up bravely, "We want to get in so we can take her back."

"No human has been taken to the Spirit World," he replied with a frown, "I would have not allowed such a thing!"

"Well you see," Natsu got up and stood by Ezra, "Our friend isn't really a human."

"Yeah, she's kind of a spirit, I guess," Gray stood next to the two as Happy stayed behind them, content with his position.

"Why would you want to take a spirit out of the Spirit World?" Aro started to draw his sword, "That is certain death for a spirit!"

"Then, can you just get us the Spirit King so we can have a talk with him?" Ezra asked, hoping Aro would let them at least talk to the Spirit King.

"Any human trying to get into the Spirit World will be taught a lesson by me. That is what the Spirit King has told me, "Aro said before starting run at them with his sword out, ready to make them bleed if need be, but Ezra had a plan.

"So, are you willing to tell Princess Lucy that you wouldn't allow her friends in to see her and even tried to kill them?"

The gate keeper stopped and put his sword away, "You are friends of Princess Lucy?"

"Yes," Gray said, "Now will you let us pass?"

"Hmm," Aro seemed to be thinking about it then he smirked evilly, "No."

He charged and so did the three of them. After a 15 minute battle, the spirit gate keeper was defeated.

"Let's go!" Ezra called as she slid through the gate. Turns out once the gate keeper is unconscious, the gate can be passed by humans.

Once they were in the Spirit World, Natsu sniffed out where Lucy was and the others didn't even stop to admire the beautiful spirit feeling the world gave them, other than how weak they felt now.

They ran into the castle, ignoring the many guards that chased them and followed Lucy's sent all the way to a room.

"Lucy, let's go!" Natsu roared as they busted into the room, breaking the door in the process, only to freeze upon seeing what was inside. Lucy was there alright and they were very happy to see her, but sitting in the desk in front of her was her father, the Spirit King.

"Natsu, Ezra, Gray, Happy!" Lucy shouted excitedly when she had seen who it was that barged in. She got out of her seat and ran over to hug all four of them.

"Lucy, who are these people?" the king demanded, "Why have they broken my door?"

"These are my friends from the human world," Lucy explained with a big smile but stayed quiet about the door, not knowing why they hadn't just opened it like normal people.

"Sorry about your door," Ezra spoke up and a shrug, "I guess we got a little excited about seeing Lucy."

"Your humans," the king simply stated with a frown, "How did you even get into this world?"

"Kind of knocked your gate guardian unconscious," Natsu scratched his head with a guilty grin.

"Aro," the king sighed like this wasn't the first time the gate spirit had been defeated by humans, "Well, state your business then."

"We're taking Lucy back to the human world with us," Natsu stated with confidence.

"Why would you humans go so far for someone who's not even related to you?" the king asked, curious why the sparkle in Lucy's eyes was back.

"You may be related to Lucy by blood," Ezra defended, "But we are her real family."

The others agreed and tears started to form in Lucy's eyes.

"It's impossible," Lucy sadly turned towards her friends, "If I go back to the human world, I will be stuck there and slowly fade away since I really am a spirit now. You have to go back without me. I have to stay here forever, there's no other way."

The king saw how sad his daughter was and realized that he would never wish for this kind of life onto someone who wasn't ready for it.

"Actually," he interrupted Lucy's heart braking speech with a frown at what he was about to do, "There is a way."

* * *

**AN: Cliffy! :O lol well this has been a suuuper long chapter for me. Hope you enjoyed it!**

**Coming up: What way is the king talking about? What will happen to Lucy? Is this story coming to an end?**

**Stay tuned for the next chapter, which will be updated on Friday, and don't forget to review ;)**


	13. The Hidden Loophole

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy's or Tail's therefore I do not own Fairy Tail ;)**

* * *

**Celestial Ties**

**Chapter 13: The Hidden Loophole**

* * *

The king sighed as everyone looked at him expectantly.

"My wife ran away to the human world in the middle of the night, knowing fully of the rules," he began with sad eyes, "If I would have had any idea about her wanting to run away I would have told her this beforehand. But she never hinted at it at all or even asked if a loophole existed in the rule."

"So there's a loophole," Loki stated, more than asked, as he walked up to stand behind the group.

Everyone else shushed him viscously and he sweat dropped while waving at them half-heartedly.

"Tell me," Lucy spoke up, "What is the loophole?"

"I have been sworn to secrecy by the Spirit God," the king explained, "The only thing I can tell you is that a loophole does exist. You have to actually find the loophole on your own."

"That's easy Luce!" Natsu smiled hugely, "We'll have you out of here and back home in no time!"

Lucy smiled back, but she didn't think it'd be as "easy" to find as Natsu expected it would be.

"Here is the rule book," her father took a huge book from one of the many shelves in his room and handed it to Lucy, "The rule you're seeking a loophole to is on page number 528. Take this to the library to analyze. Good luck."

With that, he magically forced them out of his study and shut the door.

"Thanks," Lucy whispered towards the closed door. She knew how hard it was for the king to lose someone precious to him again.

"Don't worry," Loki's hands rested on Lucy's shoulder and squeezed them encouragingly, "He wants you to be happy more than he wants himself to be happy. Isn't that how dads are usually like?"

"Thanks Loki," she smiled up at him with teary eyes. She was experiencing something she'd never gotten from her human father: love.

"You two coming or what?" They looked over to see Ezra grinning at them as Natsu made kissy faces to make fun of Lucy.

"K…I…S…S," was the farthest Natsu got with the little song before Lucy took off chasing him, her face flushed with embarrassment.

Somehow, after finally catching Natsu and being shown the way by Virgo, they arrived at the library in only 5 minutes.

They picked a table with enough seats for all of them to sit down and then Lucy opened the book to the desired page.

They decided to let Lucy read it aloud so everyone else could hear it. Sometimes hearing things made it easier to find loopholes than seeing the text was.

"Rule # 623," she began, "No spirit shall be permitted back into the Spirit World if they leave of their own free will. If the spirit is taken forcefully or working for a spirit mage, they will only not be permitted back in if they decide to stay instead of returning. The punishment is death: the leaking of spiritual energy from their bodies until they fade out completely. Any spirit daring enough to not believe in this rule, the price will be your life. "

Everyone silently took it in for a second.

"What if we kidnap Lucy and keep her locked up so she can't return?" Gray pondered.

"We'd never do that to Lucy!" Natsu frowned at Gray, about to hit him for even making the suggestion.

"Plus, even if we did that," Ezra cut in while keeping Natsu from fighting Gray, "Lucy would not be able to keep the thought of returning in her mind forever."

"You're right," Lucy agreed, "I don't think I could even hold that thought for a day. I'd be too happy living back on Earth again."

"As far as I can tell, there are no other loopholes in that rule," Loki looked at Lucy with confusion, "Does it say anything else?"

"Nope that's it."

"Let me see." Lucy handed Loki the book and he placed it down on the table.

"It's spirit ink!" Loki suddenly shouted.

"Yeah, I guess you can call it that since its ink from the Spirit World," Lucy said, not understanding why Loki was so excited.

"No, watch this." Loki put his hand on the book and it started to glow.

"What are you doing?" Lucy asked, wondering if she had the same power.

"I'm feeding the Spirit Ink my own spirit," Loki explained as if it made perfect sense.

The others stared at him dumbly, still not understanding. Loki sighed as he kept his hand glowing.

"Spirit Ink is invisible ink that feeds on spirit. Once it digests enough spirit, the ink will appear in the color blue for only a couple minutes."

"Why isn't it working?" Loki questioned as he took his hand off and no spirit ink had shown up.

"Let me try," Lucy said as she grabbed the book from him. Something inside of her was telling her that she was the only one that could do it.

Lucy put her hand on the space and it started to glow like Loki's had, only a little brighter. In about 30 seconds, she took her hand away to see blue ink appearing.

"Of course," Loki seemed to remember something, "I guess spirit ink made by a royal spirit would need another royal spirit's spirit to show its hidden message."

"However, those who use the secret gate of Aro," Lucy read the blue writing aloud to everyone, "Pass all judgment and this rule will not affect them."

"The secret gate of Aro?" Loki questioned, "I've never heard of that before."

Lucy and Loki looked to the others to see if they had any ideas, but what they saw was a group of people with their mouths dropped open and saucer eyes.

"What's wrong?" Lucy asked, concerned for her friends and also curious as to why they looked so surprised.

"Aro," Gray said in shock.

"We met him today," Natsu continued.

"When we went through a gate we made ourselves to get here," Ezra explained.

* * *

After Gray, Natsu, and Ezra had told them all about how they made the gate, Lucy decided to go confront her dad about it.

"Come in," the king welcomed when he saw her at the door. She had decided to go alone since she also had some personal matters to discuss with him.

"We found it," Lucy started, but was cut off by her father.

"And you want to know where it is," he concluded with a sigh, "I can't tell you that either, you have to…"

"To figure it out for myself?" Lucy asked, "Well I think I have."

"What? How?" The king was surprised, he never suspected that she would find it, he just thought that Lucy would feel better living here if she had hope of getting back to the human world one day.

"My friends," she began, "They used their own power to tear a hole into the Spirit World and they told me a guy named Aro came out to talk to them."

"Aro," the king face planted, "He must have disregarded my orders and let your friends in."

"Nope," Lucy smiled a bit, "Apparently they just kicked his butt."

"Now tell me," Lucy frowned, "You knew about this the whole time. Why did you keep it a secret?"

"A long time ago, when I was just a youngster like you," he began his story like any old man would.

"There was a time when spirits freely roamed between the Spirit World and the human world. It was a wonderful time, and we all lived in peace before some of the humans decided they wanted our power. We fought off so many armies after that, each from a different kingdom. It was easy, since they didn't have powers like we did, but finally one day an army of men wearing red armor appeared. They took us completely by surprise. These humans had somehow gotten some of the weak spirits as hostages and drained their spirit power and inserted it into themselves. That's why some humans can use magic; their ancestors were from that red army."

"What about spirit mages?" Lucy asked curiously, "Are their ancestors from that army?"

"Yes," the king's eyes looked gloomy, "They were the ones that made it all the way to me, the young king at that time. Those awful people found the vials of spirit, which held some spirit from each spirit keeping each spirit in line in fear of being controlled by the king, and stole them. We later found that they figured out how to meld the spirit into premade keys, which were later magically decorated when peace was formed again."

"How did you fight against that army then?" Lucy tilted her head waiting for his answer.

"Actually, we lost once they found those vials. They touched each vial and commanded us to stop, which we couldn't disobey. The Spirit God took pity on us and came down from the Celestial heavens," He smiled at the image he remembered of the glowing god, "The god forced all the humans out and sealed the gates that connected the two worlds, putting Aro in charge of guarding them. Even though we were cut off from the human world, the keys they made would summon us there."

"After a few years," the king continued his story, "The humans forgot their hatred for us and stopped looking for the gate to get in. We had to accept that we would be called out by humans and used to fight in battles. I turned this into a way of making our economy better again, since trading with the human world was not allowed anymore, and made it so being a Spirit paid a lot of money. I made spirits believe that being a spirit was not just about being used by humans, but helping them for money."

"That's all," the king looked at Lucy desperately, "Do you still want to go back to that place with those friends of yours that are all descendents of the army that attacked your real home?"

"I'm sorry," Lucy said sincerely, "I know I'm being selfish, but I grew up there, on earth. It's my home and those people are my family."

"I am sorry to hear that," the king frowned, "Once you walk through that gate you will become mortal, but not completely. You won't age and will have to live your life in the shadows once the time comes where people see you're not aging."

"Actually, father," Lucy smiled, "I wasn't thinking of leaving for that long. I know I have a responsibility to fill back here and will agree to come back for one month each year to be trained to be a ruler. Once I'm ready, Loki and I will return and take over the throne for you."

The king was speechless; his daughter was not going to leave him forever, and he now had an heir to the throne again.

"Thank you," he whispered as he enveloped her in a big hug.

"One question," they stopped hugging and she looked at him with a grin, "What kind of souvenirs do you want from the human world?"

* * *

**AN: Ok so not the last chapter like I planned, I'll do one more, but it'll be just a future type chapter to close up the story. Thanks so much for all your reviews and support!**

**Coming up: the last chapter! =O**

**Stay tuned, update will be on Monday! Review please :)**


	14. The Future

**Disclaimer: For the last time, I don't own Fairy Tail. I'm going to miss writing this story :'(**

* * *

**Celestial Ties**

**Chapter 14: The Future**

* * *

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

Loki and Lucy kissed passionately, momentarily forgetting that they were in front of a huge crowd of people and spirits alike.

"Hey, save that for tonight!" Some person yelled from the audience causing Loki and Lucy to separate; Loki grinning, Lucy blushing.

They were standing in a white gazebo decorated with flowers and gauze. All around the Gazebo was freshly mowed grass with flowers placed everywhere. The aisle was white and the chairs that everyone sat in were white as well. The flowers were all different colors and the bride's maids wore purple dresses, while the groom's men had blue beneath their black suits. There had been an argument about colors, which had been decided so they both won.

The blushing bride, Lucy, was in a shorter style wedding gown; it reached down to the ground, but there was no train, so that she could dance easier at the reception, which just happened to be in a little place called Fairy Tail.

The whistling and clapping continued as Loki and Lucy walked down the aisle towards the limo that everyone had pitched in to get them. Lucy looked around to find her real father and her human father sitting next to each other. Since she didn't want to upset them, she let them both give her away.

There were spirits and humans alike amongst the crowd of people since the King had made it a special day and let the spirits use Aro's gate to come to the wedding. The wedding was held in the human world since mortals without powers, like Lucy's human dad, wouldn't be able to get through the gate into the Spirit World.

Lucy turned around at the end of the aisle, and all the girls gathered in front of her; knowing what was about to happen. She turned around and threw the bouquet behind her. The girls fought vigorously, but Jubia came out as the winner. Lucy watched as Jubia went over to Gray.

"Look gray, Jubia caught the bouquet," she said sweetly, "When shall our wedding be?"

Lucy laughed as Gray gave her a pained look. She mouthed a sorry to him before he got dragged away by Jubia. Then she was grabbed and lifted into the air by Loki, which earned a few awes from the girls.

"See you at the reception," Loki winked before jumping into the limo with Lucy and closing the door. They would drive around for awhile before getting to the reception which was conveniently being held at a little place called Fairy Tail.

* * *

The reception was awesome. The guild wasn't decorated like a real wedding reception should be, but that's the way Lucy had preferred it. All that was different was a set of flowers in a vase on each table. The entertainment was whoever decided they wanted to sing, dance, or tell jokes.

Right then Jubia was on stage, reciting a dramatic poem about how old she was and how a woman her age should be married. Gray hid in the shadows with a scared look on his face because what Jubia wanted, Jubia eventually got.

"It's about time!" Natsu put an arm around Lucy and Loki and supported himself with a dazed grin, "I thought you two would never get married!"

"Are you drunk Natsu?" Lucy asked with amusement.

"Yup," Natsu said with pride, "I just survived a drinking match with Cana. But anyway, 5 years?"

"Well it's not like our time is limited," Loki grinned at his drunken best man, "We wanted to wait until you guys were at least old enough to drink."

"Speaking of drinking," Ezra stumbled over to them with a stupid smile on her face, "I challenge you to a drink off, Natsu!"

"You're on!" Natsu shouted before stumbling after her to the alcohol barrels.

"Awe," Lucy whined to her new husband, "I want to get drunk and have fun too!"

"Nope," Loki put an arm around her to keep Lucy from going to the alcohol barrels and winked at her, "That would ruin tonight's fun."

'After 5 years, you'd think I'd get used to this,' Lucy thought while she blushed hard under Loki's dazzling blue eyes. Lucy's blush made Loki want her more.

"Actually," Loki smirked as he picked Lucy up, "Let's start now!"

Some of their drunken friends laughed as Lucy was kidnapped by Loki, who ran out the door towards his car. Obviously, he was taking her back to the apartment they lived in for some postnuptial fun.

* * *

**10-years later:**

"Mommy!" a little girl, with her blonde hair in piggy tails and blue innocent eyes, came running into her parent's room, "Justin is picking on me!"

"I am not!" a boy with blonde hair as well and green eyes ran in after her.

The little girl appeared to be 5 years old whereas the boy was almost 10.

"Justin, stop picking on your sister," Lucy scolded lightly as she got out of bed and picked up the little girl.

"What'd you do to Kaisa this time Justin?" Loki walked out of the bathroom and picked Justin up.

"Nothing!" this received an unbelieving look from his dad, "Ok, I might have told her that Spirit Fish eat little girls."

"Justin!" Lucy scolded before looking back at Kaisa, "Don't worry, honey. Spirit Fish are actually gentler than the fish in the human world. They won't hurt you at all."

"Really?" Kaisa looked at her mother with teary eyes.

"Really." Loki confirmed Lucy's statement and the little girl was happy again.

"Alright, now you two go run along to school," Lucy and Loki put them down and gave them each a kiss, "Mommy and Daddy have to go to work now."

The kids said good bye before Virgo came to take them to school.

Once the children were gone Lucy looked into a mirror and touched her face.

"I can't believe it's been 10 years," she said in disbelief, "I look like I only aged a year or so!"

"That's because you did," Loki put his arms around her and looked in the mirror, "Every ten years to a spirit is one year of aging."

"Then why have our children grown at the same rate as humans?" Lucy asked curiously.

"Spirits age like that until they reach 16 or 17, then they slow down," Loki explained, "Now, let's get to work."

They walked from their bedroom hand-in-hand to their thrones to hear the complaints or requests of the spirits in their kingdom.

"Next week," Lucy began as they sat down, "Let's go back to the human world to visit our friends again."

"Anything for you, my queen," Loki winked as he kissed her hand.

* * *

**AN: OMG OMG OMG! That's the ending! Woah, I actually finished a story, go me! Ok, well I hope you guys enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**Oh and thank you all for being so supportive with your wonderful reviews! Bye :)**


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